Dems take Zika funding plea to Senate GOP

Senate Democrats are urging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to take action on President Obama’s long-delayed emergency funding request to fight the Zika virus.

In a letter to McConnell sent Monday, Senate Democrats warned of a “heightened threat” from the mosquito-borne virus, which is expected to begin spreading in the U.S. in early June.

{mosads}“It would be shortsighted and dangerous for Congress not to act quickly to give the administration the resources it needs to fully fight the Zika virus and protect Americans,” according to the letter, which was addressed to McConnell and the Senate Appropriations Committee.  

A spokesman for the Senate Appropriations Committee did not immediately provide a comment because he had not yet read the letter.

Democrats are turning their attention to the Senate after a weeks-long back-and-forth with the House Appropriations Committee.

The White House first submitted its $2 billion emergency funding request for the Zika virus in February. The House Appropriations Committee has so far rejected the request and has sought more details about where the money would go.

The Obama administration ramped up attacks against House Republicans last week for holding up money it says is needed to prevent a widespread outbreak of the disease.

But House leaders have insisted the Obama administration has actually stalled the funding by ignoring recent letters and refusing to answer questions about what one lawmaker called a $2 billion “slush fund.”

The House Appropriations Committee is still awaiting a response to its most recent letter to the administration, a spokeswoman said Monday.

Meanwhile, the number of people infected by Zika has climbed to more than 800 people in 40 states and three U.S. territories, most occurring in Puerto Rico. Nearly 90 of the Americans infected are pregnant.

“We cannot delay approving critical resources to assist in the Zika response. We must act now to pass the President’s request for supplemental funding,” the Democrats wrote.